That's exactly how I feel and I love the way you put it. Heath Ledger really did die when he took that role and became the Joker until he actually died. He portrayed the perfect Joker, the one from the actual Dark Knight comics. Joker is a very sick and twisted man made of pure evil and until The Dark Knight movie came out, the past Batman movies had the goofy cartoonish Joker (which I still love) but it just doesn't give you that terror that this Joker did.

I agree. People say they like Nicholson's Joker more, but in terms of acting, he wasn't really good. His Joker was the same villain he played in other movies, so it lacked real depth. Like how Johnny Depp plays the same weird crazy character in every movie. Ledger's Joker stands alone, and while it's sad the world lost a great actor, for his Joker, it's the best thing that could ever have happened, because there will be no Ledger villains to compare and contrast.

It was also, if I remember correctly, going to have the riddler, as he and the joker have an intertwined past. This is untrue. Thanks to denizenKRIM for pointing it out.

Also, as long as we're on the subject of Nolan staying faithful to the batman universe, did you know that Blake (the cop in Dark Knight Rises who will be played by the great Joseph Gordon Levitt) is based on a character in a batman coloring book?

It was also, if I remember correctly, going to have the riddler, as he and the joker have an intertwined past.

Riddler was never going to be a part of this franchise at any point. Nolan himself has said that he and Joker are too thematically similar. It's why he opted for Bane in the third movie. There would literally be zero comparisons with Joker.

It's Sir Michael Caine's opinion that Heath Ledger beat the odds and topped Jack Nicholson's Joker from Batman: "Jack was like a clown figure, benign but wicked, maybe a killer old uncle. He could be funny and make you laugh. Heath's gone in a completely different direction to Jack, he's like a really scary psychopath. He's a lovely guy and his Joker is going to be a hell of a revelation in this picture." Caine bases this belief on a scene where the Joker pays a visit to Bruce Wayne's penthouse. He'd never met Ledger before, so when Ledger arrived and performed he gave Caine such a fright he forgot his lines.

For me the makeup makes it a totally different person and i literally can't see Heath Ledger. You could tell me it was any adult male and i'd believe you.
Edit: Actually include ladies in there too as long as they can pull a decent man impression.

The Joker's face paint was reportedly designed by Heath Ledger himself, who used white clown makeup and cosmetics from a drugstore. Once his design was approved, the makeup team was responsible for replicating the look each day for filming.

It is indeed from right before he tries to shoot the mayor. There's a line of police officers on "guard", and he's in the line. IIRC, while Bats is investigating in the nearby building, the music reaches a climax and the camera cuts very quickly to the line of police breaking, and to the Joker.

I didn't know if it was a Joker goon that shot the mayor or the Joker himself. I knew The Joker was involved. I just didn't get a clear image of him the first time I saw it for a number of reasons (including the fact that he was out of make-up for the first and only time in the film).

It's during the funeral procession down a street for commissioner Loeb, and they fake Gordon's death. Joker was actually in the procession dressed as one of the honor guard doing the 21 gun salute. Then during the salute on the 2nd or 3rd shot he and a few others turned their guns towards the mayor and Gordon stepped in front of him.

up until this point every time I watched Dark Knight... I Just... Could... Not... See... Heath Ledger! He did such an awesome job at disappearing and becoming the Joker. With these Pics I finally can start to see it!

There's a few awkward edits.
The scene where they are having the business meeting for example. When Mr. Fox turns around, it's suddenly a different scene and that awkward dude is talking to him about the trust fund.

Seeing his face saddens me. I still haven't gotten over his untimely death-which was the result of pure negligence. When you find someone lying on the floor unresponsive you don't dick around wondering what to do, call 911 immediately.

No, he was found (in his bed in his Manhattan apartment) by his masseuse, who called Mary-Kate Olsen (who was in California) ~15 minutes later "for help". I have no idea why the masseuse thought that calling Ms. Olsen would help the situation of Heath Ledger unresponsive and not breathing. After her phone calls (2 in a row) to Ms. Olsen, the masseuse called 911.